James Ellroy and Bruce Wagner on Bukowski

P

pigmantoo

I don't think Ellroy knows shit about Bukowski. I don't think Ellroy's read anything but Joseph Wambaugh. He's just throwing out some comments in what was probably a long conversation with this talentless twat Wagner...you can tell this Wagner planned out all of his comments beforehand. He probably stayed up late, planning his big statement on L.A. culture and literature. Another phony. He's a small fart in the lower bowels of creation.

Wow! I love this statement. But I gota admit that I have read Wambaugh a couple of times.
 

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
No one has. Now you understand why he licks Ellroy's asshole and why he is so angry at people who have actually had success...

Bill
 
Haha, you found my youtube account from a few years ago....I didn't see that coming...much like that car the other week, my foot still hurts. It's just my attempt at making a youtube video. I had just gotten a webcam and I was ttrying it out, though, as the evidence proves, I didn't really succeded and gave up, not long after.


Writers often resent each other. It's all part of the play. Dividing people. Dividing readers. But, I will read Ellroy and Bukowski. I prefer Bukowski but I still love Ellroy.

Maybe ellroy is just gutted that, he spends months writing and studying history and so on, writing these Huge Edifices to the corrupt political landscape of america, then there is this, drunk man, who writes in a rather slapdash, lazy fashion...I can understand why he might think he is being overlooked for a homeless man. Personally, I'll have the frank accounts of Bukowski and be done with it. I'm not here to play tug of war with the mighty book shelvers of libraries.

p.s. I would read bukowski online. maybe one day. just one poem in particular. one day.
 
Olaf, you may not believe it (or some other members won't believe it), but I find it refreshing to see you popping up here from time to time.
 

Ambreen

Sordide Sentimental
I believe you Roni. I myself often find his posts cute (I don't think he will appreciate :D).
 
Have White Jazz tucked under The Most Beautiful Woman in Town as my next two reads. Ellroy is a damn good read, an interesting chronicler of the LA underbelly. So what he's talking shit about Bukowski and whatever the motivation behind it. Could be it's just a Kaufman-like put on. If you've read Bukowski enough I'm sure he's taken a good rip on someone you personally enjoy but what? You stop liking them? The comments made by Ellroy seem so stock that I can't help but think they are tongue-in-cheek (could be wrong, often am) - Ellroy, no matter what you think, isn't a stupid man. Once worked in a job full of hillbillies and all they could do was talk about NASCAR. I finally had enough and told them "Fuck Nascar!! Thee most boring shit sport imaginable - cars going round and round and round I feel my teeth loosening and yearn for cheap beer and the sounds of Merle Haggard. Trust me, they weren't happy. But I warmed their blood and for a brief moment how their eyes shined! (sadly, it was brief). Honestly, I had no personal like or dislike for the sport, but it felt good fucking with the status quo. And that's one good reason I like Bukowski - he certainly takes issues with the s.q. Ellroy is the same.
 

mjp

Founding member
Could be it's just a Kaufman-like put on.
I think you're right. He's actually a genius engaged in a performance art piece where he lives every minute of his life as a pretentious douchebag, but it's all a big joke!

Yeah, that's it.
 
Well, Stavrogin, it could be that what we're saying about Ellroy is tongue in cheek as well.

Could be, could very well be. Post is meant for that one person who may not give Ellroy a look just because he is up to talkin' shit about Bukowski. He's certainly worth reading in spite of his flair for wallowing in his own verbal acid bath.
 

mjp

Founding member
He's certainly worth reading in spite of...
Sucking?

Carlos yukked and slapped the table. His wine glass capsized. Pepper chunks flew. Olive oil spritzed.

In fairness, anyone can suck sometimes and anyone can be a douchebag sometimes, but when you sustain and combine the two, it's hard to take a consistently sucky douchebag (like Ellroy) seriously.

As I said before, Bukowski has nothing to do with my opinion of the guy. I heard Ellroy on the radio and didn't know who was speaking until later, so I came the conclusion blind, so to speak. He is, unquestionably, a pompous, egomaniacal douchebag. And the small sample of his "writing" that I have seen (from three different books) is comically bad. Just awful, stinky, bad-creative-writing-class shit, like the quote above.

There's nothing wrong with being entertained by shit once in a while, we all partake in one way or another, so don't get your holiday knickers in a twist. But call it what it is.
 
Who wears knickers on Holiday?:cool:

images.jpg
 

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Elroy is not mocking Bukowski as much as he is mocking what he sees as the mindless, ignorant, immature drones that read Bukowski. So, yes, fuck him and his ass-licker Bruce Wagner.

Bill
 
P

pigmantoo

I guess I am one of the mindless, ignorant, immature drones that read Bukowski -- but so what? We still have some freedoms and we are free to be mindless, ignorant and immature. Probably most of our population is mindless, ignorant and immature. With me you have to throw in some hubris also. Have a great new year!
 
I think a lot of writers and critics read a smidgen of Bukowski's work and then simply write him off as crude and lacking in insight and sensitivity. No intelligent, open-minded person could read Bukowski's best poems and fail to recognize his talent.
 
Elroy is not mocking Bukowski as much as he is mocking what he sees as the mindless, ignorant, immature drones that read Bukowski. So, yes, fuck him and his ass-licker Bruce Wagner.
First time I watched that video of Ellroy & Wagner, I thought Wagner was gonna say "You tell'em, Steve-Dave!"
 
Top